Altar servers bring Jesus closer to the people, pope says at audience

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI thanked tens of thousands of the young altar servers for their important service to the church and urged them to "jealously safeguard" their friendship with the Jesus.

"Tell your peers about the gift of this friendship with the joy, with enthusiasm and without fear," he said.

The pope was flown to the Vatican by the helicopter Aug. 4 to give his first general audience since beginning his summer vacation from July 7 at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of the Rome.

More than 80,000 pilgrims cheered and waved at the sky as an Italian military helicopter carrying the pope circled over the St. Peter's Square.

The pilgrims in the square and along the top of the colonnade included more than 53,000 female and male altar servers, mostly from the pope's native of Germany, but also from 16 other European countries.

The altar servers were taking part in a two-day pilgrimage to the Rome organized by the European-based association "Coetus Internationalis Ministrantium," which was celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Upon his arrival in the square, the pope was presented with a white pilgrim bandana, which he wore draped over his shoulders; he said that the gift reminded him of his own years as a young altar server.

He told the altar servers, aged 14-25, that they were very fortunate to be able to take part in the mystery of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist "is a precious good, a priceless treasure and the bread of the life" with which Jesus nourishes and sustains his flock, giving people the love and strength they need in their daily lives.

By assisting priests at the altar, the servers help bring Jesus closer to the people and make him ever more present in the world, the pope said in German.

Dedicating their time and hearts to God will bring altar servers "true joy and more complete happiness," he said.

As part of the international pilgrimage, a four-and-a-half ton, 16-foot-tall bronze statue of St. Tarcisius, the patron saint of altar servers, was temporarily placed in St. Peter's Square.

The statue made a two-year pilgrimage of its own, traveling from Switzerland to Hungary and finally to Rome. It was to be moved Aug. 5 to its final destination outside the Catacombs of St. Callistus, where the young 3rd-century saint is believed to have been buried.

According to tradition, the young man, who was perhaps an acolyte or a deacon, was killed by a mob while defending the Eucharist he was carrying to prisoners and the homebound.

Pope Benedict said the young martyr exemplifies "the deep love and great veneration that we should have toward the Eucharist."

While martyrdom will probably not be asked of the most young people in the Europe today, he said, Jesus is calling everyone to be faithful "to the little things, to everyday duties and to witnessing his love by going to the church" and spending the time with people who help deepen your faith.

Gospel of Luke

Author: Luke the Beloved Physician

Date Written: 60's or 80's AD

Date of Narrative: 3 BC - 30 AD

The Gospel of Luke is the first volume of the Luke-Acts, which was composed by the "Luke the beloved physician," a traveling companion of the St. Paul (Col 4:14). The Gentile St. Luke wrote his work for Theophilus, a Gentile Christian who may have been his benefactor. As a careful of historian, Luke sets the scene of the Jesus' birth in its political context by mentioning various rulers and places at the time (2:1-4).

Luke's gospel begins with a dramatic appearances of the angel Gabriel to the Zechariah and to Mary. Gabriel foretells two miraculous births: the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah's post-menopausal wife and the virginal conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary. Next the Lucan gospel traces Jesus' genealogy back to Adam in order to show the universality of the salvation which he brings. Luke is the only gospel writer who tells the parables of the prodigal son (15:11-32) and the good Samaritan (10:25-37). He alone tells us the stories of Mary and Martha (10:38-42) and of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13-35). He also is the only one who gives us songs that are still used in the Church's liturgy: the Benedictus (1:68-79), the Magnificat (1:46-55) and the Nunc Dimittis (2:29-32). Luke also provides the first half of the Hail Mary prayer in the Gabriel's and Elizabeth's greetings to Mary (1:28, 42). Luke gives a different version of the Beatitudes than Matthew (6:20-23). In Luke, we also get the "woes" of Jesus (6:24-26; 11:42-52). Luke concludes with the scene of Jesus' ascension which is recapitulated in the beginning of Acts (1:6-11).

Each of the characters in the Luke plays a particular role that helps illumine the life of Jesus and his message. John the Baptist represents the last of the Old Covenant prophets. Mary exemplifies the obedient servant of the Lord. The Pharisees are a consistent foil to the Jesus' message. The scribes (Scripture copyists), lawyers (experts in the law of God), elders (members of the Sanhedrin), chief priests (men in charge of the Temple and Sanhedrin), Sadducees (anti-resurrection sect of Jews) and rulers of the people (same as elders) function as Jesus' opponents who misunderstand his message. The Holy Spirit enables people to prophesy (1:41, 67; 2:27), comes upon Jesus at his baptism (3:22) and he constitutes the gift of the Father (11:13). Jesus himself is the ultimate character who fulfills God's promises from the Old Testament, when he comes as Messiah (19:38), and Suffering Servant (Isa 53-55) to cleanse Israel and the whole world of sin by his death and resurrection.

Resurrection is a key theme throughout Luke-Acts. Luke subtly inserts the verb "to rise" in many instances where the reader would not expect it. When Jesus heals the paralytic, he rises (5:25). Likewise Jairus' daughter rises, Peter rises, the disciples on the road to Emmaus rise, Paul rises and indeed Jesus himself rises from the dead (5:54-55; 24:12; 24:33; Acts 9:18; Luke 24:6). Luke conveys the power of Jesus' resurrection by showing how the Christian not only is "buried therefore with him by baptism into death" but also is "raised from the dead by the glory of the Father" so that he too "might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). The Christian life is not only about taking up the one's cross (Luke 9:23), but about living in the power and victory of the resurrection (CCC 1002). Other important themes Luke emphasizes are the jubilee year, prayer, compassion, meals and the role of women.

Comprising over one quarter of the New Testament, Luke-Acts presents an expansive understanding of the life of Jesus and the first Christians.

Pope names US Redemptorist to Vatican office for religious

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has named the U.S. Redemptorist Father Joseph W. Tobin to be secretary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of the Apostolic Life. The 58-year-old Detroit native will be ordained an archbishop, the Vatican said Aug. 2 announcing the Father Tobin's new assignment. While serving as superior general of the worldwide Redemptorist order from the 1997 to 2009, Father Tobin also served as a vice president of the Union of the Superiors General and, for the last eight years of his term, was a member of the special council for the relations between the union and the congregation for the religious. In late May, Pope Benedict named as Father Tobin to the nine-member team scheduled to conduct an apostolic visitation of the Catholic Church in Ireland in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis there.

Pope Benedict XVI

Papacy began	19 April 2005 (5 years, 106 days)
Date of birth	16 April 1927
Predecessor	John Paul II
Birth name	Joseph Alois Ratzinger
Nationality	German and Vaticanese

How to find GOD

Here is a practical help to look honestly at yourself
— and by doing so, to attain the deepest desire of every
sincere Christian: union with the God Himself.

These days, it’s easy to be diverted from the search for the God
and even to lose yourself. That’s why the monk Hubert van Zeller wrote
this book: to help the modern souls like you spot the dangerous distractions
and keep you on the path to true knowledge of yourself . . . and of God.

From Dom van Zeller, you’ll learn how, by coming to see yourself
with true clarity, you can grow into the person Christ means you to be
— no matter how far you still have to go. You’ll learn how to attain an
unmistakable, lasting experience of the God that will charge your life
with a transforming spiritual vigor.

How to Find God is a spiritual banquet for
every Christian who wants to attain the true self-knowledge and
to be united with Him who is the fount of all joy.

• Why you must discover your true self in order to discover God
• How to avoid the dangerous misconceptions in your views of the world and of Christ
• You, a saint? A simple way to test your motives and see if you’re honestly trying to become one
• True and false lovers of God: how to tell which kind you are
• Loneliness: why it’s an unexpected but the authentic sign of a soul finding Christ
• Four earthly things that allow you to glimpse God’s unfathomable splendor
• The one thing you must have in order to know anyone truly, including God
• Do you have unspiritual assumptions about the God’s creation? Find out here!
• Self-deception: why it’s so common and so difficult to pierce through — and the simple way you really can begin to overcome it
• Why love and sacrifice are inseparable for every true Christian
• How to get down to business and translate your charitable ideas into charitable actions
• And more to help you know God better — no matter how well you know Him now!
• 
  

Thousands attend Christian music festival in Longmont

For the more than 35,000 Christian music fans who came to the Union Reservoir on Saturday for the Heaven Fest, the heat, long lines and crowded, dusty parking lots were overcome with the pure patience and understanding.

"I've worked at other festivals and the people here are nicer and are more gracious," said Angi Pratt, a parking volunteer who works in the ministry at the Auraria campus in Denver. "Probably because they are Christians."

Heaven Fest, the 3-year-old single-day Christian music festival, moved to the Longmont this year because it outgrew its previous venue in Brighton and elicited complaints from residents and attendees, mostly related to traffic delays.

"The scale is amazing," said Heaven Fest spokesman

Steve Chavis. "And we have the space here to handle the crowd and to engage and entertain them."

By early evening, no traffic accidents were reported, and five people are had to seek emergency medical attention. One of those was taken to the hospital for a seizure, and the other four were treated for heat exhaustion. For a festival with almost no shade, the lack of emergencies was probably due to the absence of the alcohol, said Brett Haberstich, spokesman for the Boulder County incident management team.

There still were people waiting at the parking lots and the entrances, and the lines for free ice water and at the food stands grew as the afternoon went on.

A girls Christian youth group from Bayard, Neb., who had been camping since Friday night for their first visit to the festival, were most excited to see the band Hawk Nelson play. The high school juniors and seniors said they wished for more places to sit and cleaner portable restrooms.

The festival is expected to bring in around $700,000 to Longmont, Mayor Bryan Baum said at a news conference for Heaven Fest last month.

"Gifts Of The Spirit"

The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in the 1 Corinthians 12 are demonstrations of the God's matchless grace at work in the world, as well as evidence of His powerful presence in the midst of His church. They are manifestations of the sovereignty and the provision of God that people can actually see, hear, and experience with their senses. And they testify to the crucial truth that Jesus Christ is the Lord and the Savior of the world.

All Christians can receive and exercise these gifts of the Holy Spirit. Acclaimed Bible teacher Derek Prince shows how to discover and live in the spiritual gifts God has given you, so you may:

* Experience God's power personally
* Demonstrate distinct manifestations of the Spirit in your life
* Increase your effectiveness in the body of Christ
* Become a conduit of God's grace
* Defeat satanic powers
* Do miracles in the name of Jesus
* Strengthen and encourage your fellow believers
* Live in God's will
* Bring deliverance, healing, and hope to the world

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not a luxury. They are a necessity for living out the purposes and the plans of God. As we receive the spiritual gifts God wants to give us, and we can demonstrate His manifold grace and power everywhere we go. 

Daily Readings for Monday August 02, 2010

Reading 1, Jer 28:1-17

1 That same year, at the beginning of the reign of the Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of the Azzur, a Gibeonite, spoke as follows to Jeremiah in the Temple of the Yahweh in the presence of the priests and of all the people,

2 'Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of the Israel, says this, "I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

3 In exactly two years' time I shall bring back all the vessels of the Temple of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar king of the Babylon took away from here and carried off to Babylon.

4 And I shall also bring back Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of the Judah and all the exiles of Judah who have gone to Babylon, Yahweh declares, for I shall break the yoke of the king of Babylon." '

5 The prophet Jeremiah then replied to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people present in the Temple of the Yahweh.

6 'So be it!' the prophet Jeremiah said, 'May Yahweh do so! May he fulfil the words that you have prophesied and bring all the vessels of the Temple of Yahweh and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.

7 Listen carefully, however, to this word that I am now going to say for you and all the people to hear:

8 From remote times, the prophets who preceded you and me prophesied war, disaster and plague for many countries and for the great kingdoms;

9 the prophet who prophesies peace can be recognised as one truly sent by the Yahweh only when his word comes true.'

10 The prophet Hananiah then snatched the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broked it.

11 In front of all the people Hananiah then said, 'Yahweh says this, "This is how, in exactly two years' time, I shall break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and take it off the necks of all the nations." ' At this, the prophet Jeremiah went away.

12 After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke he had snatched off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah,

13 'Go to Hananiah and tell him this, "Yahweh says this: You have broken the wooden yokes only to make iron yokes to replace them!

14 For Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: An iron yoke is what I now lay on the necks of all these nations to enslave them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. (They will be enslaved to him; I have even given him the wild animals.)" '

15 The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, 'Listen carefully, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; and thanks to you this people is now relying on what is false.

16 And so, Yahweh says this, "I am going to send you off the face of the earth: you will die this year (since you have preached rebellion against Yahweh)." '

17 The prophet Hananiah died the same year, in the seventh month.